Two roles. One purpose.

Lunch Kits

There are small moments in life that remind you that you are a mother, or that’s how it goes for me anyway. I like to ensure that I do not wrap my identity around being a mom because one day, my children will leave the nest and I need to have some type of identity left when they’re gone. My biggest fear in motherhood (or one of my biggest fears) is that when my children are off and leading their own adventures in life, I’ll feel empty and purposeless.

Please do not confuse my desire to keep my own identity separate from being “just a mom” and couple it with the love or lack thereof for my children. They are two completely separate entities and are compartmentalized in my mind. I would die for my children! I love them with every fiber of my being, but I am also Britany Marsan, not “just a mom”. I stay sane this way 🙂

Where I grew up, literally in a trailer in the heart of Carol City, FL., we called them lunch boxes and nobody really had them or dared to be caught with one. It’s funny how when you move to new places you have to assimilate to new lingo. Lunch kits. I had to train myself to use the term lunch kits but still catch myself saying lunch box often.

It was when I packed my first official lunch kit for my kindergartener that a small reminder of motherhood popped up in my mind. I treasure those small moments, moments that make you stop and think and just remind yourself of how blessed you are and how much you have to be thankful for. “I am a mom of an elementary school kid!” While packing lunch kits may one day become a nuisance, as for right now, it brings a wave of joy to my heart. Yes, one day I may start to dread it… But as for right now, I am definitely going to be one of those parents that leaves little notes in my boys’ lunch kits just to remind them how much I love them!

Day 1

Day 2

Lunch kit from Legoland!

Now when we remove the emotional trigger attached to lunch kits for me, haha, out comes the teacher in me. How can I make this process easier and faster for me in the evenings and mornings? Packing a lunch kit does take a few minutes a day and added up over time is just too much time I’m willing to “sacrifice”. I decided to lunch/snack prep! I saw the idea maybe a year or so ago on Pinterest, that a mom used an over-the-door shoe organizer to store easily accessible snacks for her kids so I thought, “What if I pre-pack all of his favorites lunch items and snacks so that way I can just grab something and put it in his lunch kit for that day!”

There’s going to come a day when I won’t need to pack lunch kits with goldfish and little “I Love You” notes anymore. I just hope that little things like this will one day inspire my boys, who will one day become dads and have their own children, to seize the tiny moments, and see how grand they really are!